Rhena Harold wants to take the phrase ‘keep it local’ to a whole new level.

Inspired by the book The 100-Mile Diet, the young Stonewall mother along
with members of the Selkirk United Church will be holding an informational
meeting at the church June 11 at 7 p.m. where they plan to educate consumers
about the benefits of eating locally produced food and introducing them
to the people who grow it.

“We thought it was a good idea to eat healthier and make a connection with
local farmers to achieve that,” Harold said. “The feedback we’ve received
from the producers has been good and hopefully we get a good turnout from
the community about a topic that’s pretty important.”
The 100-Mile Diet, written by Alisa Smith and James McKinnon, is the story
of the Vancouver couple dedicating one year of their lives to consuming
food and drink only from within a 100-mile radius of their apartment.
The main reason for the life-altering move was the discovery that when
the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient typically
travelled 1,500 miles before it reached the table.
Harold said other issues involving the support of family farms, healthier,
fresher food – knowing how the food was grown – and a boost to the local
economy are other reasons to eat local.

“I read the book and I started asking myself questions about the food
my family was consuming,” Harold said. “The more I read and researched
the topic the more I could see eating locally was the right answer.”
Looking to start her own 100-mile diet, Harold’s first question was
how does one get started in the trek. Finding church members who agreed
with her ideas, she enlisted several fruit, vegetable and meat producers
in the area to attend the Wednesday night gathering, bring samples of
their wares and inform attendees of their services. The list includes
Ian Smith of Natural Pork in Argyle, Hidden Acres Heritage Farms of
Petersfield, Devil’s Creek Herb and Berry Farm near Selkirk and the
Jensen family’s Stoons N’ Stuff from Stonewall to name a few.
Selkirk United Church Minister Deborah Vitt said she is pleased the
church is being used as the vessel for the gathering adding faith
has an impact on the community outside the church doors as much as inside.
“Making a connection with farmers and putting a face perspective on
this is important,” Vitt said. “People want to know how to support
local farmers and feed their families, and this will do that.”
Harold was also inspired by United Church minister Kathy Douglas of
Niverville, who along with her partner and fellow padre Gary Clark,
joined 130 other Manitobans as part of a 100-day 100-mile diet
challenge in 2007.
Douglas said giving up things like sugar – as well as spices like
cinnamon, curry and ginger – were difficult at first but she was
able to supplement her sweet tooth with honey and maple syrup.
She said being more aware of what she was eating became an empowering
experience, and a healthy one and she and Clark both lost weight
consuming no sugar, no additives and with no resulting waste with
less packaging.
“With all the problems in the world we were able to consciously able
to make an impact every day, three times a day,” Douglas said. “We
ate everything we made.”
Douglas will also be putting in an appearance at Wednesday’s gathering
to give her views on the process and conduct a question and answer period.

Smith (www.naturalpork.ca) supplied many of Winnipeg’s 100-mile dieters
last year. He said the general public’s outlook of how food is processed
has changed drastically over the last 30 to 40 years as the family farm
has slowly disappeared.
He is convinced however that view is slowly turning as the baby boomer
generation passes the torch to consumers more concerned about their
health in what he calls a “green revolution”.
“If you went to a school today and asked how many kids lived on farms
where they grew their own food, you wouldn’t see as many hands go up
as when I went to school,” Smith said. “But there’s been a change of
generation. There was a gap but the current generation wants to know
what they’re putting in their stomachs.”